


Croa-tiptoe-an

by PaperHatsandPaperBoats



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Hope didn't jump into Malivore, Josie and Hope are chased by the Croatoan instead of Lizzie and Hope, One scene re-write of That's Nothing I Had to Remember
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:38:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24900181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperHatsandPaperBoats/pseuds/PaperHatsandPaperBoats
Summary: Cornered by the Croatoan, Josie & Hope navigate lies, half truths, and full-blown confessions.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 4
Kudos: 231





	Croa-tiptoe-an

“This is not going to work! You have never been honest with anyone, this monster is going to rip us to shreds!”

“Oh yeah, like you’ve ever done anything truthful in your whole life. Everything you do is in a half truth or a complete lie! You don’t get to judge me.”

The two girls run through the halls, Hope dragging Josie behind her, closing doors in their path, moving as many objects between them and the Croatoan chasing them.

They suddenly find themselves at a dead end, the school’s gym. Their heavy breaths echoing off the empty walls as they double over trying to breathe.

“Not everything I do is half true. What is that even supposed to mean?” Josie asks, looking up with her hands on her knees.

“You know exactly what I mean,” Hope responds, straightening up and shaking out her shoulders. Josie takes a step towards the shorter girl.

“No, I really don’t, please enlighten me.” Josie puts her hand on her cocked hip and stares Hope down with a scowl on her face. Hope falters, not expecting to be challenged. She has thought about this encounter for years but now that she’s squared up with Josie, she can’t find the words.

“Fine, you should probably sit down, the laundry list of lies is quite long,” Hope picks up a stray chair and throws it in Josie’s general direction. Josie furrows her brow in confusion as she stops the chair with her foot as it slid along the gym floor, places it right side up, and drops herself into it, immediately crossing her arms and her legs.

Hope paces around in front of Josie, “Where do I even begin. Maybe the first day of last year, you lied about liking Raf.”

“I didn’t lie, I just never told Lizzie I liked him.”

“Half truth number one. You lied about hating Penelope for a full year before she finally left, then you lied about loving her.” Josie stayed silent, looking down at the floor, the glare falling from her face. “You didn’t talk to Caroline about Jo when you visited, I’m guessing you let Lizzie speak for you.”

“How do you even know about that?” Josie’s head shot up.

“Lizzie rambled for so long about your trip and never once mentioned any big emotional breakdown. You effectively killed your birth mom. I mean this in the nicest of ways but Lizzie would have wanted to unload your emotions on someone else since she can barely handle her own.”

“There is no way she would have told you any of that,” Josie responds through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, but she would tell MG and if she weren’t so loud in the library I wouldn’t even know anything about your trip at all.” Hope’s breathing is still coming out in heavy puffs, they had stopped running but she couldn’t get her heartbeat in check.

“You never told Lizzie you wanted to participate in Miss Mystic Falls and then you made it your life’s mission to sabotage yourself. You lied to all of us all week and for what? No one even knew you wanted to win. And my fucking room,” Hope lets the anger she never let out wash over her, “and the letter, and your crush and your lies about me, that was your best work. I mean well done,” Hope slowly claps three times, before dropping her arms heavily, looking at Josie with a mixture of hatred and betrayal.

“I said I was sorry for that.” Josie whispers and Hope barely hears her. 

“Are you sorry about any of the other stuff? Are you sorry for always putting yourself second and lying to everyone about what you actually want? No one can even feel sorry for you because no one even knows what you want.”

“Shut up,” Josie hisses, remembering the near exact phrase coming from Penelope so long ago. Josie looks up at Hope, she can see the fire in her eyes, feel the anger coming off of her.

“What have I finally struck a nerve? What do you want Josie? Tell one truth. What do you want?”

“If you ever actually let me in maybe I would have felt comfortable telling you things but you never have. You always separate yourself from me, from everyone.” Hope lets out a bitter laugh at Josie’s response. 

“God, you’re full of shit,” Hope sighs and runs a hand through her hair in exasperation, “After the gargoyle attack, I was begging you to let me in. I was standing there begging you to actually open up and let me be a part of all of this but you just turned away. Like we didn’t just save the school together. Like you wished I was the gargoyle and you could just blow me to pieces.”

“That was over a year ago and how was that my fault? You were standing halfway across the room with your arms crossed, I was not the one shutting you out, you just wouldn’t let yourself walk over.”

“Oh really, so you’re saying if I had decided to come join you and Lizzie on the couch you would have let me stay and what, you’d braid my hair and we’d start having sleepovers? You are so full of shit it’s exhausting. You know exactly how that would have played out. You would have remained silent as Lizzie blamed the whole mess on me then neither of you would have talked to me for weeks.” Hope’s glare is daring Josie to refute her claim, but Josie remains silent, again.

“Why are you doing this? Just let the monster in and we can kill it. It can’t even hear you. You’re just calling me out for no reason.” Josie swallows, her mouth so dry she nearly chokes.

“I will ask you one more time, what do you want Josie?” Hope knows Josie won’t respond with anything real. The monster may not be able to hear them now but she could still try to get Josie to open up, maybe change the future into something she wanted. Hope surveys the gym for a way out, locating the boy's locker room, remembering a back door that leads to the fields. She waits a full minute before walking over to her exit.

“Wait,” Josie stands from her chair and walks towards Hope. She stands close enough for Hope to see unshed tears in her eyes.

“I want to be someone’s first choice,” Josie whispers, playing with her fingers. She looks up and locks eyes with Hope, “And not because I have to beg them or tell them I want them first. I want someone to want me just because they want to, despite my flaws or even because of them.” Josie turns around and takes a step back and starts talking into the emptiness of the gym, “Raf was never going to like me, there was too much baggage from the start. I messed up with Penelope but she broke and repaired my heart so many times I couldn’t handle the whiplash. I hated her to please Lizzie and then I loved her quietly and then she left. She picked me so aggressively and completely that there was nothing left for her to have.” Josie takes a shaky breath and looks to the rafters of the gym.

“Lizzie’s emotions have always been bigger than mine. My mom didn’t even talk to me alone about everything with Jo. She spent hours with Lizzie and then days with both of us, but never with just me. And you,” Josie turns around with silent tears falling down her cheeks. She takes a step towards Hope, her hand slowly reaching out as if to grab Hope’s hand but at the last second drops it to her side.

“You never saw me, even when we were kids. You barely spoke to us and when you did it was all bite and moody eyebrows so it just became easier to shut you out before you could shut me out first. And then I just had to go and get a crush on you. Somehow forgetting how awful we were to each other. How much you hated me.” Josie huffed a sad, pathetic laugh, her bitter smile breaking Hope’s heart.

“I never hated you, Josie. I still don’t.” Hope responds, everything in her body wanting to reach out and wipe Josie’s tears away. “My family. I.. I didn’t let you close because I couldn’t bear to lose someone else. When you started school here I was terrified something bad would happen to you.”

The girls were startled away from each other by a loud bang on the door. Hope instinctively moves Josie behind her, Josie moves forward, her front flush against Hope’s back.

“It found us, what do we do?” Josie’s whispers directly behind Hope’s ear, a quiver in her voice causing a shiver to run down Hope’s body, tingling all the way to her toes.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Hope suddenly says, hoping it’s loud enough for the monster outside the door to hear. Another loud bang and a crash of chairs falling away from the door forces Hope’s hand behind her, seeking out Josie’s hip to move her even closer. The door suddenly bursts open, chairs flying across the gym floor, the monster slowly walking towards them.

“Any day Hope! It’s getting closer!” Josie’s fingers dig into Hope’s arm, the slight tingle of siphoning radiates around her grip. Hope takes in a shaky breath, the thought of releasing this secret into the world terrifies her. It could ruin everything. 

“I had a crush on you when we were fourteen.” The monster stops walking towards them for the briefest of moments before continuing on it’s path. Josie’s grip tightens even more on Hope’s arm and then relaxes.

“If that’s the biggest secret you can come up with then I think we need to shift gears and kill the monster.” Josie drops her hand but Hope’s stays firmly planted on Josie’s hip. Hope chances a look behind her at Josie, keeping the monster in her peripheral vision before speaking.

“I had a crush on you when I was fourteen. Then again when I was fifteen. I think it spiked through the roof on your sixteenth birthday. Unburying you really unburied a lot of other feelings I guess,” Hope slightly laughs to herself, the monster stopped, its head tilted, it’s eyes boring into Hope as she speaks. Hope fully turns towards Josie now, knowing she is satisfying the monster’s desire for secrets. 

“I think I still do. Have a crush on you I mean.”

Josie’s eyes were darting back and forth between Hope’s eyes, her brow furrowed, her lips in a tight line. Insecurity and vulnerability wash over Hope. She can’t read Josie at all. The tight line of Josie’s mouth slowly softens into a shy smile, then into a full blown grin.

“Now that’s a secret,” Josie nods her head in the direction of the door, Hope turns to find the gym empty. Nothing remains of the monster that had been chasing them for the better part of thirty minutes. Before turning back around to face the other girl, Hope steals herself for a negative reaction to her confession. 

“That was quick thinking. I guess the secret swallower doesn’t have a built in lie detector,” Josie moves around Hope towards the gym door, “Come on, let’s get back to the other and let them know it’s gone.”

Hope debates letting Josie walk out of the gym thinking her confession was a lie. It would be so easy to go back to the way things were. Sarcastic banter, the occasional spell, monster slaying with the super squad, deafening, heart crushing loneliness. What the hell, thought Hope as she outpaced Josie to the door, grabbing her hand and turning her around.

“Can I kiss you?”

‘Wh-What?” Josie looked down at Hope now, the same look of vulnerability displayed on her face but the insecurity was gone. Josie found determination in its place, boldness in Hope’s bright eyes. Hope’s fingertips glide over Josie’s jawline, her eyes roaming the other girl’s face before landing on her lips. 

“Can I kiss you?” 

Josie pulls in her bottom lip, the tip of her tongue peeking out, wetting her lips. Hope found herself completely mesmerized. If Josie thought her words were a lie, then maybe her actions would solidify the truth. 

Josie’s fingers lighting wrap about Hope’s wrist drawing Hope’s eyes back to hers. She searches the shorter girl for any indication of a joke or a tease before ever so slightly nodding her head. She feels the sharp intake of breath just as much as she hears it, Hope's chest puffing out against her elbow.

With a tiny smile, Hope leans forward, moving her hand to cup the side of Josie’s face. Her lips ghost over Josie’s, she hesitates, giving Josie a final out, to step back and reject her. When she doesn’t, Hope closes the distance between them and takes Josie’s bottom lip between her own. Josie’s hand settles on Hope’s hip and snakes around to her lower back, pulling the girl closer to her, deepening the kiss. The tip of Josie’s tongue brushes against Hope’s bottom lip, the hand on Josie’s neck reaches up and tangles in her hair, slightly pulling. 

“Are you on your tiptoes?” Josie whispers against Hope’s lips, her eyes still closed. Hope could feel the smile forming on Josie’s lips before she leaned back and saw it. She watched Josie slowly open her eyes, a dreamy look on her face, a goofy grin. She felt her stomach do cartwheels. She felt her own lips tug up into a smile as she dropped down several itches back onto her heels.

“Shut up,” she teased, her eyes crinkling as her smile deepened. Hope reaches for Josie’s hand, intertwining their fingers, brushing a kiss over her knuckles. “Let’s go.”


End file.
